Car Accident...

Today as we were headed home from Carilyn's check-up we were involved in a four car accident.  The weather here has been severely cold which makes the roads extremely slick.  We had studded tires put on our van over Christmas which helped this accident be less severe. 

We were headed south on the main highway, New Seward, going through the last light before traffic speeds up to 55 and then 65 mph.  Three vehicles in front of me was a Ford truck that started to slide, so she slowed down and began to veer off the side of the road.  She had control of her vehicle, but the Dodge Durango behind her didn't realize what she was doing and began to spin out of control.  Between the Dodge and us was a Subaru of some sort that swerved to the right and avoided hitting the Durango.  Unfortunately for us I didn't see all this happening and when the Subaru swerved, I then directly hit the Dodge Durango on the driver side as he was spinning.  I wasn't going very fast when I hit, but it did some good damage to the van.  The Ford truck and Subaru were minimally damaged and the Dodge and I had the most damage done.  We were all okay and Quarton kept telling the cops and other drivers as they came to our door how we "bumped" cars with the spinning car in front of us.  Kids are so perceptive.  

The van was able to drive away from the accident, but now we have to get it in the shop to get fixed.  Fortunately for us we can deal with only having one car for a while.  God had his hand on us during this accident and I thank Him for his protection.  This has made me slow down even more on our roads and to pay attention to other drivers.  They are the ones who have caused my family and I to be in two car accidents since we moved here.  Take your time and be careful!!

Carilyn's 2 month Check-up...

This morning we were able to get Carilyn's two month check up done.  She is doing well and received a clean bill of health.  Here are her stats...

10lbs 12 oz - 50%

22.5 inches long - 50%

40cm - head circ.

She received her first set of shots today and did really well.  She had fallen asleep right before she received them and fussed initially as she felt the shots, but went right back to sleep afterward.  She's a trooper :)

Quarton's Third Birthday

On the 5th of January we were able to celebrate Quarton's third birthday.  It was a late celebration for us because we wanted to wait for Dad to get home from work before we did anything.  

Yesterday started out with Quarton helping me make his birthday cake.  I made a pound cake from scratch which I will need to work on or try a different recipe next time :)  Quarton had chosen Superman for his theme this year so I had purchased a Superman cake pan to decorate for him.  He loved helping crack the eggs and watch everything mix in the mixer.  He helped pour the batter in the pan and I had to leave the oven light on so he could watch his cake bake.  During his nap time is when I decorated his cake.  When he woke up and saw the cake he was excited to see that it looked like Superman.  

Once Dad made it home, he came in with balloons for Quarton.   You would have thought Quarton had died and gone to heaven when he saw Dad walk in with balloons.  Plus, they were Superman colors, red, blue, and yellow.  We sat down and ate our dinner and then we ate our cake and ice cream.  Then it was time for presents.  He was excited about opening presents again since we had just celebrated Christmas and as usual he had a lot to open.  As the celebration came to an end, he was sad that he had to go to bed before he got to play with all his presents.  He was happy to know that they would still be here in the  morning and he could play with them the next day.  

He has been such a great kid and we don't know what we would do without him.  I can't believe my baby boy just turned three years old.  Time has flown by and it makes me want to slow it down a little so I can enjoy these early years more.  It is exciting though to see his mind grow and comprehend so much.  We love him to death and it was a great birthday celebration for all of us.    

Happy New Year!!

So, this past month has been hectic.   I will begin back at Thanksgiving...

Randy and Donna were able to come up and visit us for Thanksgiving.  It was a welcomed relief for all of us because they were the first set of visitors since the birth of Carilyn.  It was wonderful to be able to concentrate only on Carilyn for a few days and have help with Quarton and other household chores.  Randy and Donna were able to stay the following week after Thanksgiving which turned out to be even more of a blessing in disguise.  That week was one of Keagan's busiest weeks at work and Randy and Donna helped out with entertaining Quarton (I didn't have to twist their arm too hard :) and a cooking meals.  I was able to get out of the house a few times without any kids and I almost didn't know what to do with myself.  We had a great visit with them and we are looking forward to seeing them soon.  

After Thanksgiving we started to decorate the house for Christmas.  We had pulled all the decorations out from under the house a few weekends before Thanksgiving so all I had to do was open up boxes and start setting things out.  I love the holidays and I love to decorate for Christmas.  Unfortunately a few unavoidable circumstances which I'll explain later didn't allow me to get everything done that I usually like to do.  

Now is when our busy time began.  We were practicing for our church Christmas program which was on Sunday evenings.  We would get Quarton up from his nap and go straight to church for practice.  Keagan and I were Mary and Joseph.  Carilyn was baby Jesus, and Quarton was toddler Jesus.  To say the least we all had important parts in this program.   Well, the Sunday before our program, Dec 14th, we went to practice and Quarton was being difficult and not cooperating with us at all.  I went and picked him up only to feel that he was extremely hot.  I told Keagan and we packed up the kids and went home.  We took Q's temp and he had a 104 degree fever.  This continued for three more days with the fever going down with Tylenol.  Finally on Thursday morning the doctors wanted to see him because he had a fever for 72+ hours.  This is when we found out that he had Strep throat.  I was glad to get him antibiotics, but I was worried about the rest of us especially Carilyn.  Quarton started to perk up by that evening after having some medicine in him.  We all did well through the weekend and was able to perform for the Christmas program on Sunday.  

The next week started out as normal with Keagan going to work and us doing our daily routine here at home.  Keagan flew on Tuesday, Dec 22, only to divert to Fairbanks due to the weather we were getting here.  We got 7+ inches of snow that day and unfortunately for Keagan he took off right before the snow hit.  He called me that evening and everything was fine with him and here at home.  I then go to get Carilyn ready for bed around 7:30pm.  I picked her up off her play mat where she had been playing for a while on her own.  She felt warm to me so I went to take her temp.  She had a fever of 101.8.  I called the nurse hotline and they said to bring here in to the ER as soon as possible.  They were taking every precaution because she was so young.  Andrew and Michelle came to pick up Quarton and take care of him for me.  I didn't know how long we were going to be at the ER so Michelle brought Q back to our house to possibly stay the night with him. Fortunately, Michelle is a teacher and was off for Christmas break.  Little did I know, we not only were in the ER all night, but we were admitted to the hospital.  Keagan flew home the next day, Wednesday afternoon, and Nathan and Michelle flew in that night for Christmas.  Carilyn and I stayed in the hospital until Saturday morning.  It was a bummer that I wasn't able to be at home with Na and Chelle there, but I knew Carilyn needed to be watched.  We waited to do Christmas until we got home.  We opened presents Sunday morning and enjoyed all of us being under one roof again.  

2 Week Check-up

Last Friday I took Carilyn in for her two week well-baby check-up.  Here are her stats...

Weight - 8lb 6oz (75th Percentile)

Lenght - 21 inches (50th Percentile)

I didn't get the size of her head, but it was also in the 75th percentile

She is a great eater and sleeper and we can't be more blessed with a wonderful baby girl.  

She has arrived!

Here are some photo's of our new little one.  She is an angel and our transition from one to two kids has been a blessing so far.  Hope you enjoy looking and listening like we did.  

This is mommy early in labor on Halloween night.  We were hoping that our baby girl would be here soon, but she had a different plan.

This was mommy over 12 hours later and our baby girl still wasn't here.  We had started talking about a C-section at this point and as you can see, I was exhausted!

Here we are in the operating room.   This was taken at about 2pm on November 1st.  We were anxious to see our little girl!

First moments of life for Carilyn Jane at 2:10pm on November 1, 2008.

Meeting Mom for the first time.  

Carilyn and I had to get antibiotics after her delivery because I had a fever through most of my labor.  The doctors took her to the nursery to get an IV and Keagan went with her as they finished my C-section.

Here's Keagan finally in our postpartum room where we were able to enjoy a few moments together.  

First family photo.  Andrew and Michelle had brought Quarton  by Saturday evening to meet Carilyn and he enjoyed being the big brother.  Keagan then went home with Quarton to put him to bed.  My nurse, Brandi, that first night in the hospital was a blessing to have.  She took care of Carilyn while I was able to get some rest.  She would bring Carilyn in when it was time to eat and then would take her back out to the nurses station.  I believe it was a slow weekend for them.  Only one other family was in the postpartum rooms so the nurses weren't too busy.  

Here she is getting ready to go home with Mommy and Daddy.

Last couple of pictures before we leave the hospital.

Month of September..

Well since October is almost over, I guess I should update you on what's been happening since I last posted a message.  

The month of September was a busy one and I don't know where the month went.  It started out as Keagan left for his hunting trip with our Minister Deryl.  They were headed north of Kotzebu out in the middle of no where.  Keagan was wanting to hunt for Caribou mainly, but if a big enough Moose or Grizzly Bear came by he wasn't going to pass it up.  Keagan and Deryl left on the 1st of September and returned to Anchorage on the 10th.  They both had a successful hunt with Keagan getting a Caribou, Moose, and Grizzly and Deryl got a Grizzly and Caribou.  

While Keagan was on his hunting trip, Randy and Donna flew up here to visit with Quarton.  I was headed to Illinois for my ten year high 

school class reunion.  It was a quick trip to Illinois, but I had 

a great time visiting with

 old friends.  

Keagan returned from his hunting trip only to leave again a few days later to go run the Air Force Marathon at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH.  He was running the race with his cousin, Aaron, who had been training along with Keagan since January.  Keagan was able to see his parents and had a great time running the race with Aaron.